In the final meet of the 2012 wrestling season in Idaho, the Hollister Warriors wrestling club ended its successful season with another individual championship. Overall at the Kids and Cadets Western Regional Championships in Pocatello, Idaho, the Warriors competed in 11 division with five wrestlers, taking home one first place and three top-six finishes.
Over the weekend, Khader Yasin – in the 75-pound Bantam Division – finished 4-0 in Folkstyle wrestling to grab a first-place finish. Yasin also placed third in the Freestyle, losing in the final match of the tournament. Overall, Yasin finished the tournament with a 7-1 record. Yasin won a couple of state tournaments earlier this year.
“He is phenomenal,” head coach Kelly St. John said. “I don’t see a ceiling on that kid. He has everything a coach wants to see in a young athlete … He is a sponge.”
Zachary Thompson – competing in the 55-pound Novice Division – was the only other Warrior to place during the 11-state championship tournament. Wrestling in the Freestyle, Thompson placed sixth with a a 4-2 record. He also competed in the Greco-Roman style tournament, but went 1-2 and did not place.
“The boys all wrestled really well, but with 11 states represented the competition was stiff,” St. John said.
Leo St. John – wrestling in the 70-pound Intermediate Division – went 0-2 in Greco-Roman and 1-2 during the Freestyle competition. He did not place in either style.
Fayz Yasin competed in three styles as a 98-pound Schoolboy Division wrestler. Yasin went 1-2 during the Folkstyle and Greco-Roman style tournaments. In the Freestyle, Yasin finished 0-2.
In the 105-pound Schoolboy division, Michael Zaragoza went 2-2 during Greco-Roman style and 1-2 in Freestyle to finish outside the top six.
It was a good end to a strong season, St. John said.
“They all made a lot of good progress,” St. John said. “I saw them do some pretty incredible things as the season went on. There are bigger things to come. They will continue to get better wrestling at a higher level.”
The Hollister Warriors are a youth wrestling club that was established in 2007. The Warriors compete in state and national tournaments each year to prepare its students for high school.
Next year, St. John expects more improvement as the club will focus on fewer but more high quality tournaments, he said.
“We are going to pull back on the volume and focus on the quality,” he said. I believe the more you see the best, the better you get.”
